Birmingham to offer food for thought at inaugural Meetings Show UK

Birmingham is presenting a taste of its future conferencing and events offer to 5,000 visitors at the first ever Meetings Show UK (London’s Olympia, 9-11 July).

Meet Birmingham, the city’s business tourism programme, has joined forces with The International Convention Centre (ICC) and The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) to encourage buyers to consider Birmingham as the best location for their next event. Delegates will also find out about the city’s significant future developments, which include the £150 million Resorts World Birmingham complex at the NEC, due to open in 2015.

The Meet Birmingham stand (H1) is offering delegates themed dishes from across the world to underline the city’s growing reputation as an international culinary hotspot. Birmingham city centre alone has 200 venues serving food from 27 different countries.

Samples of food on stand will range from Indian to Mediterranean, with a Cadbury-inspired afternoon buffet on Wednesday 10th July celebrating Birmingham’s unique links with the chocolate maker.

The Meetings Show UK will showcase British and international destinations to attendees including 1,500 qualified buyers at more than 13,500 pre-scheduled meetings.

“Birmingham’s strengths as an international leader in cuisine are fast becoming recognised, with our visitors able to enjoy a huge range of foreign flavours from our independent eateries.

“Our food-themed stand activity will highlight the diversity of our culinary offer, complementing the social options available to delegates once their day’s convention business is done. We will also present a taste of the expertise and locations that Birmingham can offer event organisers.”

The ICC and The NEC, part of the NEC Group, are also running a prize draw inspired by the city’s leisure offer. Visitors to the Meet Birmingham stand can win a pair of concert tickets with Amplify hospitality package at either of the Group’s entertainment venues, LG Arena or National Indoor Arena (NIA). The prize includes first class rail from anywhere in the country, together with one night’s hotel accommodation at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham.

A truly distinctive offer for the city’s leisure and business visitors will soon be provided at the NEC with the opening of Resorts World Birmingham, the first of its kind in Europe. The complex will feature a conferencing and banqueting centre for up to 1,300 delegates, a four star hotel, designer shopping outlet, cinema, restaurants and a casino.

Nicola Young, Marketing Director for the NEC Group, said: “The Meetings Show is a fantastic platform for the NEC Group to showcase its widespread facilities and experience in staging events, from small to large scale conferences to high-profile exhibitions, to key people from the industry.

“It’s a very exciting time for the Group with the construction of Resorts World Birmingham well under way. Resorts World supports the continued growth of our brands and marks an important step in our wider vision to make the NEC site more of a destination for work and leisure, 365 days a year, 24/7.

“We are looking forward to making new contacts at the show and further raising the profile of our venues and the city of Birmingham.”

Birmingham and the wider region has a proven track record in hosting events of all sizes, thanks to over 36,000 bed spaces and a rich variety of venues. Its central location means that over 90% of the UK market is within four hours’ reach. The city maintained its status as most popular UK regional events destination in the British Meetings & Events Industry Survey 2012/13.